Very fast cars and bikes and their killer owners

[mrmcfister]

Just a thought ....but if the government were REALLY interested in reducing deaths caused by cars and bikes then why do they not introduce speed limiters like they have on lorries?Today on the front page of the Mail a car capable of 215mph has been ripped apart after the driver apparently sped through a 30mph limit and hit a fence.Driver dead.I routinely see motor bikes with 180mph on their speedos and every day innocent people are killed on our roads due to blokes with small dicks thinking their speed makes them more virile.Clarkson and his cronies should be made to do a few mortuary duties before they spout on like silly kids about the top speed of the latest rich mans toy.

[Flat_Eric]

mrmcfister wrote:

> Just a thought ....but if the government were REALLY interested
> in reducing deaths caused by cars and bikes then why do they
> not introduce speed limiters like they have on lorries?


I've often wondered this myself. The counter-argument of course is that "it's not speed that kills but knobhead drivers" and of course it can be Goodnight Vienna even at 30 or 40 mph. But I agree, having a car capable of 200+ on the road is bonkers.

Not sure it would be a panacea though. Why not make everyone aspiring to a driving licence at least see images of the consequences of bad driving / excessive speeding.

Personally I've always held the view that 17 is far too young to be entrusted with a motor vehicle on a public road. Even 21 is pushing it really because let's face it at that age everyone thinks they're immortal - I know myself and my mates did, and how we emerged unscathed from some of the on-road idiocy that we used to indulge in after we got our licenses at 17 / 18 remains a mystery to me.

Perhaps a multi-pronged strategy involving better education, encouraging greater responsibility (I did the Advanced Driving Test when I was 25 and it taught me a lot) and stricter penalties for dangerous drivers would be the most effective approach.

- Eric

[Bob Singleton]

In Japan all cars are limited to 180kph (111mph). The Nissan GT-R, however, thanks to its sat-nav system, switches the limiter off if it sees that you are on a race circuit... so limited on normal roads, but fully able to take advantage of all the power and performance available on a closed track/circuit.

I can't imagine it will be too long before governments realise the huge earning potential of fining drivers for speeding by using tracking and sat nav devices fitted in every car. Already many firms fit trackers in their commercial vehicles (be they lorries, vans or cars driven by reps) to see where everyone is, if people are somewhere they shouldn't be and to help work out the quickest, cheapest and most fuel efficient routes. The data includes being able to see what speed they were doing at any given point of their journey.

If cars have limiters, speeding itself may decrease, but so will government revenue. It's now down to governments to decide what a life is worth as they juggle between limiting the speeds vehicles can travel at, and increasing revenue from stealth fines.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Trees huggers of the world please fuck off. Fast cars don't kill anyone. Bad drivers kill.

[Essex Lad]

Exactly!

[mrmcfister]

Bollocks..guns don't kill but would you have every wanker able to carry them around?..

It's the dual standards .speed cameras on the roads but happy to take the VAT on the fast cars?

[Essex Lad]

Prior to 1914 our gun laws made the Wild West look sedate. Yet we didn't have hundreds of murders...

[RoddersUK]

The problem with speed limiters is that at present they can be tampered with. A large proportion of trucks involved in serious accidents have had their limiters tampered with by the drivers to speed their journey times. This is a fact.
The only way to have tamperproof speed limiters is to programme the ECU for this purpose under certain load conditions. The ECU can be made tamperproof so that if it is illegally opened the system can shut down.
I quite regularly came across "adjusted" speed limiters on Bedford RL 3 ton trucks back in the day when I was a young REME mechanic. The drivers did so because they wanted to get more than 29 mph in 3rd gear, so they would break the seal and screw the nut in one turn to tension the limiter spring to give 35 mph in 3rd gear. If they had an accident and it was due to this then they were hung out to dry as there was always a paper trail from services, repairs and who drove it from where to wherever. So, speed limiter tampering aint new it just needs the manufacturers to design a tamperproof system. As I have already stated, the answer should be in the ECU.

[william]

I did a 170 mph - clicked the cruise control on and let it run for ten minutes or so - was sweet but did it ever take a lot of concentration and that was on an empty dry road. outside of Frankfurt heading north where it was legal.

Its not speed that kills but the person driving beyond their limits in a vehicle that may not be at the peak of its mecanical prowess.

I know of a guy who was done for speeding in this country and it went to court the guy was a civilian that taught police how to drive, anyways he obtained a discharge from court as the judge decided he was not at any risk and the public was not at any risk either. As said its not speed but the application that is the factor.

I enjoy fast cars and have had a few - work in the biz and get to drive some really nice ones. current set of wheels just now an M5 previous gen with the V10 - Im chopping this in for the newer version which I will probably change for the tripple turbo X5M thats out within the next few months.

Im a professional driver and I used to do work for an establishment that shall remain nameless. I was given the task of taking something to Dover from Glasgow a few years back this trip was done in under 5 and a half hours. distance of 490 miles. Average speed of 115 miles an hour and three fuel stops en route. its not done now traffic on the roads in this country is too busy all hours of the day but back then leaving dover at midnight pulled into glasgow at 5.17am

As a professional driver I am aware of my limitations and this is where it counts knowing yourself the conditions and the vehicle. I take no chances and ensure that I dont put any risk in anyones way.


So no there is not thing as a killer vehicle

[mrmcfister]

Oh dear!